Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 356: Hidden Deep?

Zhang Mansion.

Li Zisheng sat with Zhang Yanling.

Li Zisheng had a smile on his face, and he looked like a cunning old fox who was about to deal with an innocent little white rabbit who knew nothing.

"Minister Li, my father hasn't come back yet."

Zhang Yanling said politely, "If you wait here for my father, I don't know how long you will have to wait. It would be better... to go directly to the government office and wait. Maybe my father has already gone there."

"No, I have already made an appointment with your father. He will be back as soon as he finishes his work."

Li Zisheng said with a smile.

Zhang Yanling said, "Then I will go to the inner courtyard first. Please forgive me for the poor hospitality."

"Don't."

Li Zisheng stopped him and said, "My dear nephew, I came here today just to see you... Can we sit down and talk?"

"Looking for me? Minister Li smiled. I'm just a child. I'm currently studying with Mr. Chai... If you have anything to ask, why not let Mr. Chai come and talk to you?"

Zhang Yanling pretended to be reserved.

Li Zisheng smiled and waved his hands: "It's fine to just tell you. Others are outsiders after all, even your husband, he is not one of us.

"But you are different, nephew. Your father and I have a life-long friendship. You are like my own nephew. How can I treat you lightly?"

Zhang Yanling smiled.

I thought to myself that Li Zisheng is quite good at winning people's hearts, but your lies may be able to fool a three-year-old child, but the key point is that I am already over ten years old.

If I tell this to my good-for-nothing elder brother, I guess he won't believe it, right?
"Yanling, let me ask you, who was your father's master? Don't avoid this question. In fact, your father has told me a lot before, especially that he has a close relationship with Zhang Tianshi of Longhu Mountain..."

Li Zisheng follows the principle of cheating whenever possible and talks nonsense.

After all, there is not a single word of truth in his mouth.

Zhang Yanling frowned slightly and asked, "What is Longhu Mountain? I've never heard of it... Did my father study in Longhu Mountain before? I really don't know... My father doesn't tell me everything... If Minister Li has any questions, why don't you go and ask my father in person?"

"Look at you, can't you just say it out loud?" Li Zisheng scolded, "Do you think your father's Taoist skills were acquired out of thin air?"

Zhang Yanling thought to himself, sorry, he didn't get it out of thin air, he just has no ability at all.

Others may not know about this, so how could I not know it?
Li Zisheng asked, "As for his ability to save people, do you know who he learned it from? Who was his mentor?"

"Well..."

Zhang Yanling hesitated for a moment before saying, "My father once mentioned that he learned medical skills from a copy of Treatise on Febrile Diseases. It seems to be... a unique copy."

"How can a medical book be considered an isolated copy? Nephew, you should be honest and sincere. Don't hide anything for your father. If His Majesty finds out..."

Seeing that his trick of persuading people to do nothing worked, Li Zisheng resorted to threats.

Zhang Yanling deliberately looked horrified, stood up suddenly, and asked tremblingly: "Li... Minister Li, my father must have done something wrong and won't be able to come back, right?"

"No, no. Your father treated His Majesty and was highly valued by His Majesty. His Majesty has handed over the management of the Imperial Hospital to him and promoted him. Now he is the Minister of the Ministry of Rites."

Li Zisheng said with a smile.

Zhang Yanling looked confused and asked, "Is the Minister of the Ministry of Rites a high-ranking official?"

"He is a third-rank official, which must be higher than the former Minister of the Honglu Temple..."

Li Zisheng was about to explain in detail when he suddenly remembered that he seemed to be here to trick this kid. Why did the tone become a little strange while he was talking?

Why do I feel like I'm the one being tricked?
"My dear nephew, do you really know nothing about your father's affairs?"

Li Zisheng frowned and asked, "When your father knew he was going to the palace, he insisted on seeing you first. I don't understand why he had to talk to you?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "It's nothing. My father doesn't want to go and wants me to do it for him. That's all."

"What!?"

Li Zisheng was shocked.

My brother Lai Zhan is actually this kind of person?

Want his son to take the blame?
This kid... is he trying to deceive me?
Zhang Yanling said helplessly: "My father knew that this trip to the palace would not be good, so he told me some jargon and asked me to tell him roughly after entering the palace.

"I told my father that he must go in person. After all, His Majesty...would never listen to a half-grown child like me."

Hey, you wanna trick me?

Excuse me.

I just talk nonsense...

what?
You want to disprove it?

Okay, you go talk to Zhang Luan directly, he will tell you whether it is true or not... Even if he denies it, I'm sorry, you should talk to him, I am not responsible for answering your questions.

Li Zisheng stared at Zhang Yanling with sharp eyes, and his tone was full of gloom: "Yanling, you can't fool me."

Zhang Yanling said helplessly: "My father is a person who wants to hide when encountering trouble. He will only take action when he can't hide anymore... In fact, he doesn't want to diagnose Your Majesty at all... Don't you know what he is thinking until now?"

"This……"

Li Zisheng certainly knew the inside story.

This is why he had no way to refute Zhang Yanling, because everything Zhang Yanling said was reasonable and well-founded.

The Zhang Luan described by Zhang Yanling is the same Zhang Luan in Li Zisheng's eyes.

Cowardly and fearful!

Hide if you can!

But when the time comes, he will stand up. He is a very complicated person!

Zhang Yanling continued, "My father also said that everything is irreversible. If he gets involved, it will probably bring disaster to the Zhang family. He also said that if he really can't avoid it, then..."

"So what?"

Li Zisheng was really put into the scenario constructed by Zhang Yanling.

"My father said that if all else fails, he will sacrifice himself to save his family."

Zhang Yanling had a sad face. "I think my father has noble sentiments. Although he often laughs and jokes and is not serious, I think he really cares about my brother and me, and also cares about my sister. He is not the kind of person who would do anything to gain fame and fortune."

"..."

When Li Zisheng heard this, he suddenly felt like he had been tricked.

But then he felt that the boy in front of him was speaking very sincerely, and the person who was playing tricks on him might not be Zhang Yanling.

But if it weren't for Zhang Yanling...

Li Zisheng thought to himself, could it be Zhang Laizhan again?
It turns out that he has been pretending to be a grandson in front of me. He is the one with real potential!

……

……

Li Zisheng wanted to find a loophole in Zhang Yanling because he was like a fly, searching hard for a flaw.

However, Zhang Yanling managed to keep his words completely secret and spoke half-truthfully, creating the image of Zhang Luan who seemed muddle-headed but was actually a hermit who played around with the world. This made Li Zisheng feel that he might have misjudged Zhang Luan before.

After some conversation.

Zhang Yanling made an excuse to go back and look for the book Zhang Luan usually read, and then left the main room.

I happened to see Zhang Heling eating a donkey meat BBQ.

"Brother?" Zhang Yanling looked over.

Zhang Heling swallowed the last bite of the fire roast, smacked his lips, and said with satisfaction, "It's delicious."

Originally, Zhang Yanling planned to let his elder brother deal with it casually, but when he saw the scene before him, he immediately gave up this unrealistic idea.

After searching for a long time, Zhang Yanling found a copy of "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" for Li Zisheng. This was a medical book that Zhang Luan bought at the last minute after arriving in the capital in order to better study medical classics and make adequate preparations for his job in the Imperial Medical Service.

Of course, the books bought on the market are of very low quality.

Li Zisheng took the book and read it for a long time, but he didn't find any useful information from it.

"Your father usually watches this at home?"

Li Zisheng asked in surprise.

"Exactly."

Zhang Yanling nodded and said, "Of course, my father also reads some other books, but to be honest, he doesn't read much even at home... My father said that all the knowledge he has is in his head and has been deeply rooted. He can't forget it."

Li Zisheng put the book down and shook his head, "Isn't it? What can you learn from this miscellaneous book? It would be too absurd to rely on such a low-brow book to diagnose your majesty."

Zhang Yanling thought to himself, I'm sorry, my father hasn't even read the whole book, but he still went to treat the emperor?

When it comes to curing illnesses, it doesn’t depend on how capable he is, but on what achievements he makes.

If he had a miracle doctor behind him to back him up and pave the way for him, then even if he was a charlatan, he could still act cool in front of the emperor and the imperial physician.

Li Zisheng asked curiously, "Yanling, what books do you usually read?"

“I stopped reading a long time ago.”

Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "Mr. Chai always tells me, and I listen to whatever he says. I've been very busy lately, and my father is also very busy... Sometimes I think it's really strange, my family members seem to be very busy, but I don't know what they are busy with."

Zhang Yanling also grasped the essence of nonsense literature.

Facing Li Zisheng, Zhang Yanling thought to himself, it's good enough that I can talk to you. Your motive is not to help my father or the prince at all. You are a complete speculator. It's just that your speculation skills are more advanced, and even you have been fooled.

"Ugh!"

Li Zisheng talked for a long time, and finally seemed to give up. He waved his hand and said, "You go out first, let me be quiet. I don't understand your father's temper anymore."

……

……

at last.

After Li Zisheng waited for another half an hour, Zhang Luan came back.

"I'm sorry to have kept Minister Li waiting for a long time. Actually, I didn't stay in the Imperial Hospital for long. I just had a brief encounter with them. However, Eunuch Wei gave me some instructions for the follow-up."

After Zhang Luan sat down, he picked up the tea bowl and found it was empty. He quickly called out, "Someone, bring the tea."

Li Zisheng asked: "Laizhan, what do you usually do?"

"what?"

Zhang Luan was puzzled for a moment and looked over curiously.

Li Zisheng pointed to the door and said, "Son, you've said everything."

"What did he...say?"

Zhang Luan said angrily, "Hey! Why does this kid tell everything to others?"

Li Zisheng said, Wow, it turns out that your family’s weakness is not with your son, but with you.

Just a random word I say, and you believe it?
And you say you are pretending to be confused?
I think you are really confused!
"Your son said that you are very secretive."

Li Zisheng thought he had found the way, and he couldn't help but say it out with an unfathomable smile on his face.

Zhang Luan frowned.

I thought, are you sure this is what my son said?

He said I was a secretive person?
He himself is the one who keeps his talents hidden!
It seems like my son likes to push good things onto me whenever he has nothing to do... He is burning himself to fulfill his father's wish.

"Oh, that's not the way to say it."

Zhang Luan said modestly, "This is all thanks to what I learned in the past, but fundamentally, there is still... something missing. Otherwise, I would be able to cure your majesty's illness... Alas!"

Li Zisheng asked, "What about your Taoist inheritance?"

"What kind of Taoism?"

Zhang Luan was a little confused again.

"Where did you learn it from? Your son said it might have something to do with Mount Longhu."

Li Zisheng fooled again.

"I have never been to Mount Longhu, don't listen to his nonsense."

Zhang Luan sneered, "Minister Li, let's not talk about these trivial things, let's talk about... Deng Chang'en first. Eunuch Wei told me quietly that Deng Chang'en has been imprisoned, and it is very likely that... he will be severely punished by His Majesty. This should be the scene you want to see, right?"

When Li Zisheng heard that Deng Chang'en was imprisoned, he felt no sympathy at all, and his heart was immediately filled with joy.

The long-cherished dream seemed to come true in an instant. It felt like he was pinning the enemy who killed his father and stole his wife to the ground. The feeling made him feel so good that he forgot to test Zhang Luan again.

It seems that it would destroy the revolutionary friendship among comrades, and wise people would not do it.

"Laizhan, this time, it's all thanks to you."

Li Zisheng was extremely happy. "In that case, I will ask Bingkun to find a place for you to live in the south of the city in the next two days. It would be best if it is closer to the Imperial Hospital so that it will be convenient for you to enter the palace.

"As soon as we find a suitable house, we will transfer it to your name immediately."

Zhang Luan said: "This... How can this be so embarrassing?"

Treating the emperor now seemed to be Zhang Luan's inevitable fate, but if someone offered him a house for free, he would still be happy to accept it.

Li Zisheng said with a smile: "You and I are in the same boat, so we should share the happiness. Do you think I need a house like this? Come on, I will have to rely on you to say a few good words to the prince in the future... My entire fortune depends on you."

"What do you mean? We all work for the court and for His Majesty...it is I who should rely on Minister Li." Zhang Luan was very tactful and spoke flattering words without hesitation.

The two of them immediately found resonance.

Originally Zhang Luan thought that Li Zisheng was going to stay at his house again and eat and drink for free, but this time Li Zisheng was very tactful and just stood up and said goodbye.

"Lai Zhan, I'm hosting you tonight, at my house. I've prepared all the necessary things for you, just get ready and come to the banquet."

Li Zisheng stood up and said, "Don't drink too much, it's easy to make mistakes. After all, the palace may summon you at any time. If you have time in the next two days, come with me to the palace... Anyway... Oh, by the way, are you going to bring your family to my house today?"

When Zhang Luan heard that he was going to attend a banquet at Li Zi's provincial mansion and that there would be some debauchery waiting for him, he had already begun to fantasize about Fei Fei.

Suddenly, when he heard that he was asked to bring his family, his heart tightened and he thought, do you mean that I should bring my concubine with me?

But then he realized that Li Zisheng was asking him whether he wanted to take his son Zhang Yanling with him.

Zhang Luan said awkwardly, "My son...some things are always inconvenient for him, so let him stay at home. If there is anything...it won't be too late to send someone to tell him."

If I go and indulge in some sensual pleasures, is there a spy next to me who is keeping an eye on me?

Then how can I show my strengths?
Li Zisheng smiled and said, "I will do whatever you say... But our nephew is a really smart kid with a bright future. You must support him and don't let him go astray."

"Yes Yes."

Zhang Luan agreed, but was thinking in his mind.

Following you is the wrong path!
My son will be the one who helps the prince to do great things in the future. How can that be considered an evil path?
No matter what, my Zhang family is also the prince's in-laws. In the future, we will rely on the prince to bring glory to our family. Do you think we can rely on you, Li Zisheng?
As a subject, nothing lasts forever, so you'd better give up!
(End of this chapter)